Kainan: 10-1

On Saturday I met up with Malay and Brain for lunch. I had invited Thai but apparently he had moved to Meadowbank.

I picked them up and we went to the shopping centre near me. Malay had come back earlier from Malaysia, so this was the first time I'd seen him in a while.

When we got there we went to the foodcourt and bought our lunches. I told them about my mobile car washing idea. I couldn't really tell very well whether they thought it was a good idea or if they were just being agreeable (they both just seem to go with the flow). I asked Brain if he was interested and he said something like "we'll see how it goes" which to me meant a no. That might be a good thing. I don't see him having the balls to put out money, and even if he did, I get the feeling he'd be the type to not put in much effort.

We went for a walk through JB Hi-fi afterwards, and then decided to buy a lotto ticket. But because Malay thought the newsagency there didn't have much luck, and because we lost so badly on the other one, we decided to go elsewhere. I suggested Hillsdale so we went there.

Malay went to the toilet while Brain and I bought a ticket for the Oz one on Tuesday. Then Brain and I went to Coles where we bought a big bottle of juice, some cups and a pack of chips. We started eating it and when Malay came back, we just all sat there sharing it and talking.

I had to get the car back to my dad by 4pm so I drove them all home and returned the car.

Today
I met up with Nick at Central. As he appeared from the stairs, I was at first glad to see him, until I saw him wearing our green Shoyo shorts. He saw what shorts I was wearing and realised his mistake. The train had just arrived. He thought about going home to change and then driving out. I suggested we just get on the train and hope they'd let him play, so we did.

Bo got on at Redfern. It took him a few moments before he realised Nick was wearing the wrong uniform, lol. Nick seemed out of it mentally. He told me he had broken up with Vera. Also, when we were about to get off the train, Bo spotted his wallet left on the train. Lucky.

We walked to the courts and Nick asked me to ask Jim to bring a white jersey. Jim decided to just pick us up instead, even though we said not to worry about it. He picked us up and we went back to his place where he gave Nick his full white Celtics uniform.

We drove back to the courts and warmed up. I did suicides and Jim was like "don't tire yourself out before the game". I thought, what the hell? This is just warm up.

Alex showed up and told us he has a partially torn ligament. Damn. I told him to take it easy for the next 6 months, but he sounded like he wants to make it back in time for the playoffs.

We played Ruthless. MJ was a no-show, so we only had six: me, Mike, Bo, Nick, Carter and Jim. We got off to an early lead and never really looked back.

A few times I got into the passing lane and got an intercept. The first one I just hit away and out of bounds, but the others I managed to run down the court and convert the lay up. I'd like to think it was my quick reflexes, but I think they just made shitty passes.

Bo started running his fastbreaks (again). I now know why people don't run with him - it's because he gets a head start, AND the guards assume he will pass it, so instead of dashing ahead or with him, we hang back waiting for the pass, only to see him run ahead. At one time, Jim was running with him, and Jim was like "pass it pass it pass it!" Bo didn't pass it and ended up losing it, and Jim said "fucking pass it!" I thought he really needed that, because if I had said it then it would've been nagging. Bo did look at me, but I just ignored it, hoping he knew he was wrong.

I did make a huge mistake at one point. I was standing near the halfway line, and Jim slapped the ball out towards me, but I for some reason thought I couldn't get to it in time so just stood there watching it. It was like everything was in slow motion. I just stood there and watched it go out instead of getting it. Why the hell did I do that? That's not the first time either.

We won like 60-34 or something. Although it was nice to get an easy win to finish off the regular season, the downside is it makes guys complacent. Bo kept saying how easy it was and how we'd have it easy in the playoffs. I think that's the first step towards an upset.

We grabbed a free sausage sizzle and hung around outside for a while, talking. Then we decided to get something else to eat so we went to Auburn for kebabs. As we sat there talking, I noticed Nick was kinda quiet throughout, except the intermittent joke. After that we went to the pub nearby and talked. Nick and Jim seemed interested talking about proerty values and that, while Bo and I had a bit of a talk about how we get to a certain age and people think we're weird for not being married. He said he's already reached that age.

We were there for a while. I wished it would never end. This is the first full weekend I've had without going into work for a long time. I think I'll treat Bo like Shuing now - it's ok to have him around when others are there, but try to minimise one on one contact.

Bo made a comment after the game as Mike was talking about my fastbreaks and how I turn around to look at defenders catching up a lot. Bo said I was "anxious". I silently agreed.

Anxious or careful. Maybe I have my reasons. I don't want to let this opportunity slip. Or maybe Bo has a point - maybe we will have an easy road to the championship?

I wandered around the city for a while, before remembering to get a new car key for my dad. It cost $180, but I still got it anyway. It's been a bit overdue.